MIGRATING SOLIDWORKS APPLICATIONS TO AUTODESK INVENTOR. HINTS, TIPS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 1 Contents Contents............................................................................................................................. 2 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 5 Who is this guide aimed at? ....................................................................................... 5 How this guide helps you. ........................................................................................... 5 COM APIs ...................................................................................................................... 6 Application Integration Types ..................................................................................... 7 How Do You Decide? .............................................................................................. 7 Finding Your Way Around the Inventor API ............................................................. 8 You Cannot Record Command Sequences But Master the Macros Anyway! 8 Use a Different Ruler ............................................................................................... 8 Simple VBA Macros ..................................................................................................... 8 Displaying Active Document Name in SolidWorks ............................................. 9 This is How It Will Look in Inventor ..................................................................... 10 The Application and Document Are Right At Hand .......................................... 10 Exploring SolidWorks and Inventor Object Models .................................................. 11 Charting the Objects .................................................................................................. 11 Finding the Objects That You Need ........................................................................ 12 Getting the Right Bucket ....................................................................................... 14 What Do You Need to Find? ................................................................................ 14 It's Arranged A Little Differently ........................................................................... 17 Collection Objects .............................................................................................. 18 Definition Objects ............................................................................................... 19 Getting Things Done .................................................................................................. 20 Accessing the Application Object ........................................................................ 20 Creating and Accessing Documents ................................................................... 20 Traversing Features ............................................................................................... 21 Accessing User Selections ................................................................................... 25 2 Assemblies -- New Terminology to Learn .......................................................... 28 Proxy Objects .......................................................................................................... 29 Working with Drawings .......................................................................................... 30 Creating Drawing Sheets .................................................................................. 31 Placing Model Views On A Sheet .................................................................... 31 Retrieving Dimensions From the Base Model ............................................... 31 New Drawing Document Concept: Geometry Intent .................................... 32 Customizing the User Interface .................................................................................... 34 Start With a Wizard .................................................................................................... 34 Mapping the User Interface ...................................................................................... 35 Comparing Customizable UI Elements ................................................................... 36 Menus and Toolbars .............................................................................................. 36 FeatureManager ..................................................................................................... 36 PropertyManager .................................................................................................... 36 Model Views ............................................................................................................ 37 Pop-up Menus......................................................................................................... 37 Status Bar ................................................................................................................ 37 Mapping the User Interface API Objects ................................................................ 37 Advanced Topics ............................................................................................................ 39 The B-Rep API ............................................................................................................ 39 Comparing the B-Rep Models .............................................................................. 39 Accessing Topology Objects ................................................................................ 40 Evaluating Geometry ............................................................................................. 41 Persistent References ........................................................................................... 42 Custom Attributes ....................................................................................................... 43 Events and Notifications ............................................................................................ 43 Start with Add-In Template Code ........................................................................ 44 Look for AddHandler Calls .................................................................................... 44 Add Your Code to the Notification Functions ..................................................... 44 Graphics....................................................................................................................... 46 3 Use Native Primitives............................................................................................. 46 Graphics for Real-time Interaction ....................................................................... 47 Mouse and Keyboard Inputs ................................................................................ 47 Redo Undo Objects .................................................................................................... 50 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 52 Figure 1: Inventor's VBA Editor ......................................................................................... 9 Figure 2: Inventor 2011 API Object Model ...................................................................... 12 Figure 3: The Object Browser........................................................................................... 13 Figure 4: The VBA Debugger........................................................................................... 14 Figure 5: Feature Trees in SolidWorks & Inventor .......................................................... 22 Figure 6: Comparing the User Interfaces .......................................................................... 35 Figure 7: ClientGraphics Primitives ................................................................................. 47 Figure 8: MouseEvents Example ...................................................................................... 49 Table 1: Application Types ................................................................................................. 7 Table 2: Mapping High-Level Objects ............................................................................. 15 Table 3: Feature Tree Traversal ........................................................................................ 23 Table 4: Feature Traversal Output .................................................................................... 24 Table 5: Onscreen Selection & Query Code ..................................................................... 25 Table 6: Assembly Objects ............................................................................................... 29 Table 7: Assembly APIs ................................................................................................... 30 Table 8: Topology and Geometry Objects ........................................................................ 40 Table 9: Mouse Event Handlers in SolidWorks and Inventor .......................................... 49 Table 10: Redo Undo Objects ........................................................................................... 50 4 Introduction Who is this guide aimed at? This guide is aimed at software developers who are already integrating their applications with SolidWorks, and who are considering (or actively) migrating their applications to work with Autodesk Inventor.